CPA for Deposits: How Audiences Helped Reach 3,292 First Deposits in 30 Days [Case Study]
Most iGaming campaigns start wide: GEO, device, maybe OS. It brings volume, but also users with zero interest in the offer. It’s different with retargeting: it only includes people who have already shown interest: visited the site and took the time to sign up. These users are often easier to bring to a deposit.
This case study shows it clearly: audience campaigns needed about 940 impressions to get one deposit, while regular campaigns needed about 7,250.
Case Study Overview
Our partner runs its own iGaming product and targets exclusively Android users.
| Vertical | iGaming |
| Device | Android |
| Advertiser type | Direct advertiser |
| Ad formats | Interactive Ads (test), Social Traffic (main volume and retargeting) |
| Payout model | CPA, paid per first-time deposit (FTD), about $12 per deposit |
| Tracking | S2S postback: deposit (Goal 1, paid) and registration (Goal 2, for audiences) |
| Case period | Sep 26 to Oct 25, 2026 (campaigns still running) |
| Spend | $40,443 |
| Deposits | 3,292 |
| ROI | 27% |
| Frequency | 1 to 10 impressions per hour |
These are one advertiser’s results for this offer and period. Results vary by GEO, offer, traffic and setup.
Quick question: why CPA?
Our partner replies:
Because paying only for deposits was the safest way for us to start. We set $12 as our limit and the campaigns stayed on it. The real growth came when we started retargeting people who had registered but hadn’t deposited yet. Same price per deposit, but we could finally spend more.
From August 27 to September 25, they spent $3,096 on PropellerAds and got 262 deposits.
Not bad, but it turned out better. How?
New Funnel: How It Worked Out
In August, the advertiser decided to run it differently. Here’s how the setup changed, step by step.
1. Testing the offer. On August 18, they started with Interactive Ads to see if the offer converts on PropellerAds traffic.
2. Whitelist and blacklist. On September 15, they moved to Social Traffic and split it into two campaigns. The first ran only on the whitelist, the proven zones that already brought conversions. The second ran on all other traffic and blacklisted zones that didn’t perform. This second campaign helped them find new profitable zones, which they then moved to the whitelist.
3. Retargeting. On September 26, the partner started adding registered users to PropellerAds Audiences and retargeting them right away, also on Social Traffic. They split these campaigns into three groups: registrations, depositors, and separate traffic segments.
And, a quick visual to make it even clearer:
Note: The partner also tried targeting by IP ranges. It didn’t work: these campaigns brought very few deposits for the number of impressions, so they got only about 1% of the budget. You can see the results in the table below.
Results (Sep 26 to Oct 25, 2026)
| Group | Spend | Deposits (Goal 1) | Registrations (Goal 2) | Impressions | Cost per Deposit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main campaigns (WL + BL) | $32,634 | 2,636 | 9,301 | 19.1M | $12.38 |
| Registration / deposit audiences | $7,343 | 616 | 6,020 | 0.58M | $11.92 |
| IP ranges | $466 | 40 | 355 | 1.01M | $11.64 |
| Total | $40,443 | 3,292 | 15,676 | 20.7M | $12.29 |
The cost per deposit is almost the same in every group, but the difference is in how many impressions it takes to get one deposit:
- Audiences: 1 deposit per about 940 impressions.
- Main campaigns: 1 deposit per about 7,250 impressions.
Retargeting people who had already registered worked much better than anything else: it took about 7.7 times fewer impressions to get one deposit. Once audiences were launched, the campaign started to grow. At the end of September, it brought about 78 deposits a day, and from October 10 to 12, it reached a peak at around 168 deposits a day, all at the same cost of about $12 per deposit.
Lessons Learned
- Send registration as a separate goal, even if you only pay for deposits. In this case, it was the cheapest way to build a warm audience to retarget for FTD.
- Scale can come from retargeting. Same CPA bidding model, but each deposit takes about 7.7x fewer impressions.
- Split the main volume into whitelist and blacklist. Proven zones get their own budget, and the rest of the traffic keeps looking for new ones.
CPA for deposits lets the advertiser grow the budget without guessing, and registration audiences add a warm pool to scale on. The result: 13x more spend in a month at the same cost of about $12 per deposit.
Want to try your own audiences?
Join our Telegram Chat and swap testing notes with fellow buyers.
Trends
View more postsFrom 11/11 to Cyber Monday 2026: What the Data Shows and How to Run Your Campaigns
Short Drama, PWAs, and AI Among 86% of Game Developers: 6 Key Trends from ChinaJoy 2026
Sporting Events 2026/27 for Affiliate Marketers [Interactive Calendar]
6 AI Trends Shaping Traffic Buying. Insights from Alex Vasekin
